The Recovery. Nicole Falls. 2020. 197 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.]
I’ve been waiting for Parker’s story for a while. She is easily the most elusive member of the trio of her, Geffri, and Blair. Between The Changeup and The Restart, it’s very clear that she has some major turmoil and the build-up of anticipation was real.
As the third book in the New Beginnings series, The Recovery continues its pattern of following a woman athlete’s career and personal life. For her part, Parker is a former track star turned golf novice looking to establish herself as a great. Her day job, however, is being nanny to three kids under 7 while fighting off an attraction to their widower father, Kelly. So while she spends her days staving off tantrums and keeping her bedroom eyes in check, Parker devotes nearly all the rest of her time to honing her skills as an up-and-coming golfer on a tour circuit.
I readily fell into Parker’s story because she’s so likable. She’s a calmer balance to Blair and Geffri’s personalities, but isn’t quite mousy nor a pushover. She can get hype like them, but between catering to little kids all day and spending her time on the green, she comes across as more serene. More than that, though, she doesn’t actively have a ton of excitement happening around her, so her issues seem a bit more acute. Kelly is also an all-around good guy, so despite some obvious losses he’s endured, I really wanted to see him win. He’s a good foil to Parker’s tendency to pull back from whatever they have going on, because he’s assertive without being a creep. It’s not always clear that he and Parker can jump from employer to lover without judgement and fallout from those around them, or if it would even be worth the fight. But it’s sure worth the read seeing them figure it out.
Sports in general aren’t my interest, but I continue to appreciate Falls’ ability to let sports take a central role in a book without overpowering the story and causing folks like me to lose interest. That was particularly important here, because golf is probably last on the list of sports I care about. I did, in particular, like how Falls acknowledged the lack of representation among the field, especially among Black women. And for those who are golf fans, the attention to golf course locations, tours, training and the like will readily be a part of the story.
A romance wouldn’t be right without a shade of drama, though. There were more than a few occasions where I held baited breath to see if things would implode for Parker. There was just enough tension to make sure you never quite knew how things would work out, but this wasn’t a nerve-wracking, chair-throwing read, thankfully.
I am a bit sad to see this series draw to an end for this group of friends. But Parker’s story was a great way to round it out. With the introduction of a few characters, I’m cautiously optimistic that Falls will keep these three around as secondary characters in new books. But this is not at all a bad way to bring the New Beginnings series to a close.
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